Scraps and Junk
by Skylark Starflower
Summary: This will be a collection of orphan plot bunnies that either got cut from an overall story, or just never ended up going anywhere, but I still want to share. Enjoy. Or not, whatever floats your boat.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note/Disclaimer: I still haven't found a billion dollars with which to buy Ninjago.

So … I originally had this idea to write a story where it looked like Zane had betrayed the team by joining the Serpentine to do some rather shady looking stuff. So I wrote these two little scraps of an idea down so I'd remember it. I was never able to fit a decent plot around it, though, so I decided to let it die. It also didn't help that I've just recently read Night of the Nindroids for the first time and discovered that there's already at least two official stories floating around that draw Zane's loyalties into question. While I love the idea, I don't feel like it needs yet another rehash from me. But I still like what I wrote, and it would be a shame to waste it, so here you go. It was set at some point after season 4. Also, yeah, I will sometimes refer to nunchucks as nunchaku because that's the actual name of the weapon. It's just a thing I do. Also, Lloyd is not here because he was supposed to be off with his mother doing some research at the time.

Start scenes

Zane stood on the cliffside, Skales and Pythor standing off to the side behind him. The dust from where the village had once been was still settling, drifting about them in clouds. Kai, Jay and Cole stood at the bottom of the cliff, their weapons drawn. They were too late.

"You're not going to get away with this, Zane!" yelled Kai, waving his sword heatedly.

Zane could see the anger burning is his friends' eyes, and he flinched slightly. He knew what he was about to say would sound bad, but he was fully committed to the cause now. There was no going back. "I wouldn't need to if you'd just listen to me. Join us. It's not too late."

"No way! I don't know what those snakes have promised you, Zane, but I hope it was worth betraying the team!"

Zane hadn't thought it possible for Kai to look angrier than before, but somehow his friend had managed it. He took a moment to study the others' faces. Cole's expression was drawn and grim, and Jay … Zane could deal with the fury, but the look of hurt betrayal on Jay's face almost made him lose his resolve. Almost.

"I haven't been promised anything, just told the truth of the matter. It really is a matter of life and death, and we can help. But you need to stop fighting us and just listen for a moment."

"Zane," started Cole. He paused for a moment, gathering his thoughts before continuing. "I am willing to accept that you believe you're doing the right thing, but to me, turning people to stone and destroying whole villages doesn't sound like the kind of thing a good person does. So you'll forgive us for not believing you and doing everything in our power to stop you."

Zane's eyebrows knit in shame and disappointment. "I admit, I didn't really expect to sway you. I do wish you would listen. However, if this is how it must be, then so be it."

"Forget them," hissed Skales as he and Pythor turned to leave in the waiting Rattlecopter. "They're too ssstubborn to know what'sss good for them. Typical humansss."

Zane continued to stand there watching the others even as Skales tugged at his gi to get him to move. Kai and Cole's expressions hadn't changed, but he could see tears glistening in Jay's eyes. The regret it made him feel physically hurt.

"I…" Jay started, and Zane cocked his head slightly, somewhat surprised that the blue ninja was only now speaking up. Jay's expression hardened and he shook a fist at the nindroid. "I hope you choke on a lug nut!"

Zane blinked; the only outward sign of the shock he felt at Jay's words. Without another word, he turned and followed the two Serpentine to the Rattlecopter and the three took to the sky.

Kai let out an enraged bellow, throwing rocks at the fleeing aircraft. Cole crossed his arms to his chest, his face a mask of anger and frustration. Jay rubbed at his eyes, a pathetic grin on his face.

"Zane wouldn't really betray us, right?" he asked, his voice full of empty optimism. "Right? Maybe there's something to what he's saying?"

"If you really believe that, you're welcome to join him," snapped Cole.

Jay shut his mouth, and stared hard at the ground.

X X X

Nya took one look at the ninjas' returning faces and her greeting died in her throat. Eyes hard, she asked, "I gather it didn't go well?"

"If I get my hands on Zane, I'm going to melt his titanium face off," snarled Kai in reply.

"That good, huh?"

Sensei Wu watched his students without a word. Cole stalked off in silence, disappearing below deck. Kai activated the training course and began taking out his aggression on it. Jay just stood there looking miserable until Nya approached him.

"Are you okay, Jay?" she asked, clearly worried.

He just shrugged, at a loss for words, unusual for the motor mouth. Nya hugged him, but he brushed her off- more strange behaviour. Understanding, she let him have his space. He followed after Cole, wandering off below deck.

Nya glanced to Sensei Wu to ask if he had any suggestions, but the old man had already gone.

X X X

Jay didn't see Cole anywhere downstairs. Knowing that his friend often disappeared below deck just told him that Cole had gone to stew in his usual hiding place, wherever that was. That was fine by him, though. He wasn't really up for the company.

Reaching the bedroom, he ripped the sheets off his bed and tucked them under Cole's mattress, turning the lower bunk into his very own fortress of solitude. Crawling into it, he proceeded to pull his knees up to his chest, resting his head on his arms as he contemplated recent events. He didn't want to believe that Zane would really betray the team, at least not without a good reason, but he had to admit Cole was right. It didn't look good for the nindroid. Maybe they should have listened to what he had to say, but Cole and Kai were too stubborn to do so, and if Jay were to suggest it, he'd get snapped at.

Jay let out a shaky sigh. Whatever Zane was doing, he believed it to be in the best interests of Ninjago, that much was for certain. Jay just didn't understand how any of it could be. Turning whole villages to stone and burying them underground didn't make any sense. It was evil … wasn't it?

In truth, none of that really mattered to Jay. All he wanted was his friend back.

He didn't want to cry, but he couldn't help it. The stress of the situation was finally getting to him. He needed to let it out somehow, and he wasn't up to telling jokes. Besides, there was no one there to hear them. At first, he tried to keep quiet. He didn't need to be teased about being a cry-baby along with everything else, but eventually he just gave up. Shoulders shaking, he let out all the grief he was feeling in great sobbing wails.

He wasn't sure how much time passed before he noticed that someone had joined him in his den, a hand on his back. He bit back a sob, sniffled and wiped his nose on his sleeve before looking up.

"Se-Sensei?"

Sensei Wu patted him on the back before offering his student a smile and a cup. "Tea?"

Jay's smile was thin. "O-okay. Thank you…"

Wu poured two cups of tea, handing one to Jay. The two sat in silence, sipping at their respective drinks for several moments.

"Sensei," said Jay, finally breaking the silence. "Do you … do you think Zane's really betrayed us? I mean, I know he can be pragmatic at times, but this just seems … extreme."

Wu took a moment before replying. "To be honest, I don't know. We all have our own paths to follow in life. If Zane's has taken a detour, it may not be too late to set him back on the right course. But only he can make that decision in the end. If he truly believes that what he does is right, I fear none of us could convince him otherwise."

"Wow, Sensei, that's so reassuring. Thanks for the pep talk!" said Jay, sarcasm thick in his voice.

Wu smiled and clapped Jay on the shoulder. "I am sorry, I won't lie to you. I can't tell you what I don't know. And believe it or not, I do not know everything.

"But I do believe that Zane has a reason for what he is doing. I know the others refuse to hear his explanation, so perhaps you should try to talk to him by yourself at some point?"

"That … actually makes sense. I'll try, Sensei."

"That is all I ask of any of you." Wu paused for a moment, looking about. "Nice sheet fort, by the way."

* * *

Jay needed to talk to Zane, but he wasn't sure how to manage it. The attacking Serpentine were keeping him pretty busy, and if Cole or Kai beat him to Zane, he would lose his chance. He thought of yelling insults in an attempt to provoke him, but Zane tended to stay cool in battle. He would most likely just ignore him. Plus, Jay was pretty sure Zane would know he didn't really mean any of them, despite the situation.

While knocking back one of the attacking snakes with his nunchaku, he decided to throw caution to the wind. Jumping atop a rock, he pointed to Zane with his weapon and yelled, "Hey, Zane! Fight me!"

Zane's head snapped in Jay's direction. So far, he was keeping to the back, avoiding direct battle against the others, opting to instead direct the snakes he had allied with. Jay's invitation seemed to vex him.

"Why would I wish to do that?" he asked.

Jay kicked an approaching snake in the face, and knocked another away with his nunchucks before replying, "Because I asked nicely?" Now that he had Zane's attention, he mouthed, _I want to talk to you._

It only took Zane a moment to decipher the message. Bringing out his shuriken, he nodded. "All right, then. Let's fight."

Even though Jay was fairly certain Zane wasn't going to try to hurt him, it was still terrifying to watch him suddenly bear down on him. The titanium master of ice's expression was as cold as his element.

There was a shower of sparks as Jay blocked Zane's initial attack. It didn't even slow the nindroid down; he caught up his weapons on the rebound and took a swipe at Jay with them. Jay blocked this attack as well, nearly losing his footing as he slid back from the force of the blow.

The two jumped back from each other for a moment, sizing each other up. Jay took the initiative this time, swinging his nunchaku in a deadly arc he was certain Zane could block. There was a clang as his weapon glanced off Zane's shuriken.

The two fell into an easy rhythm of attacking and parrying. Jay just hoped Cole and Kai didn't become wise to the fact that the battle was being staged and ruin everything. With luck, the Serpentine would keep them busy.

"Zane," Jay said in a hurried whisper as the two came together for a moment as their weapons caught and locked. "I want to know why you're doing this."

Zane gave a nearly imperceptible shake of his head. "We don't have time to discuss the situation here."

Jay grunted in frustration as he pushed Zane back, the nindroid executing a back flip to keep his balance. Several intense moments of trading blows later, they came together again. Jay had come up with a crazy idea to pitch in the time it had taken.

"Take me hostage."

"What?"

"Take me with you. Then we can talk."

"Jay …"

"Just do it!"

Zane didn't argue further. With an ease that scared Jay, Zane pushed him back before catching and forcing him to turn around. Grabbing hold, he wrapped one arm around the blue ninja, pinning Jay's arms to his sides, while bringing up his other to press a shuriken to Jay's throat.

"Everyone stop or I will do something we shall all regret!" he announced. Jay swallowed hard, hoping he wasn't doing something incredibly stupid.

The Serpentine immediately backed off, startling Cole in the middle of an attack. He managed to stop his momentum without falling and turned towards Zane. Kai, meanwhile, kicked a couple snakes as they slithered past him in retreat before also turning his attention to the white ninja.

As one, the two yelled, "Jay!"

"Let him go, Zane!" said Cole.

"Don't you dare hurt him!" added Kai.

"I have no intention of hurting him," Zane replied. He pressed his weapon a little harder against Jay's throat. The blue ninja shivered in response. If Zane noticed, he made no indication. "So long as you allow me and the Serpentine to leave without trouble."

Cole frowned. He was in no position to bargain, but decided to try anyway. "Leave Jay and we'll let you go. For now."

Zane shook his head. "Jay comes with us. I will return him in an hour so long as you don't try anything."

"Dammit, Zane …" Kai took an aggressive step forward.

So quickly Jay barely knew it was happening before it was over, Zane brought up a blade and jabbed. Jay let out a startled cry of pain as the cold metal cut into his skin. He could feel hot blood begin to trickle down his chin and wondered again if this was a good idea. He couldn't believe that Zane had really gone evil, but he certainly wasn't acting very nice right now. A small, undignified whimper escaped him.

"I'm being very serious, Kai. Stay where you are," said Zane.

Kai looked like he was prepared to disobey again, desperate to get his hands on the traitor, but Cole threw out an arm to stop him.

"Let him go, Kai," he said. Then he turned to Zane. "Go on, then. But believe me, if you hurt him again, there will be hell to pay."

"It wasn't my intention to hurt him in the first place," Zane replied. "I will do what I must, however."

Kai looked like he wanted to spit a few interesting expletives, but he stayed silent.

Jay let out a squeak of fright as Zane readjusted his grip on him so he could pick him up and sling him over his shoulder. He then turned and walked away, Serpentine troops following his lead. A few minutes later, they were gone.

Kai tossed his sword to the ground in frustration. "Great, just great! This just keeps getting better and better!"


	2. Chapter 2

Authors Note/Disclaimer: I still don't own this show. I wish.

Anyway, here are some more scribbles I wrote that I'm not going to use for anything. The first one was just an excuse to write Zane breathing into a paper bag. Seriously. That was my whole agenda. There is no other explanation for what's going on and I don't intend to do anything else with it.

The second scene was just something that popped into my head one day that I found amusing. I'm not going to be using it in particular, but it did give me an idea for something else I'm going to be writing soon, I hope.

As for the third … well, I'm not a Glaciershipper. (Nothing against it, it's just not really my thing. I prefer Technoshipping when it comes to M/M stuff, but to be honest, I'm mostly a huge sucker for Pixane.) But this scene jumped into my head almost fully formed and I had to write it down because the exchange was perfect. I changed it slightly from the original I posted on tumblr to make it a little less NSFWish. (If you really want to see the original, feel free to ask and I'll link you.)

* * *

The ground seemed harder than usual as he lay there, still somewhat stunned. The last few minutes were a blank in his memory. Why was he here? How had he gotten here? Where were the others?

It hurt to move. Everything hurt, but he wasn't sure why. The pain was different, too. He had never felt like this before. He didn't like it. He tried to pick himself up, but it hurt too much. He went still, closed his eyes and waited for the others to find him.

"Zane! Zane!"

Zane's eyes fluttered open. Someone was at his side, gently rocking him. He couldn't remember them arriving; he must have passed out. Focusing, he saw Jay looking down at him, the expression on his face reading of confusion and worry.

It still hurt too much for him to want to move a lot, but he did manage to speak. " … Jay? What?" His voice sounded oddly croaky. He didn't understand; he was a robot, he didn't get sore throats.

"Zane, what happened to you?"

It was Cole's voice. Zane had been too focused on Jay to notice that he, Kai, Lloyd and Nya were all standing off to the side. He could see they were wearing expressions similar to Jay's.

Jay helped Zane sit up once it became clear the ice ninja couldn't manage it on his own. Once he was up, he took a closer look at himself. Something was strange, different. It took him a moment to realise what it was. His eyes went wide.

"I'm … not titanium anymore …"

He saw the others exchange looks. Obviously, they had no idea, either. A crazy theory occurred to Zane, but he had no idea how it could have happened. Still, he checked for his usual panels and ports, only to find they weren't there. Was he … human? Suddenly, he realised how quiet it was in his head.

" … Pixal?" No reply. He tried again, this time a note of panic colouring his voice. "Pixal?"

"You going to be okay?" Lloyd could see that Zane was starting to freak out, and he had a good idea why. He thought that keeping him talking might help stave off the worst of the coming panic attack.

"Where's Pixal?" Zane's voice was desperate, panicked, his eyes wide. "She's not in my head anymore!"

"Oh, Zane …" Nya placed a hand on his back in another attempt to keep him calm. "We haven't seen her. She must be around here somewhere, though …"

"Yeah," agreed Kai. "Hey, Cole, come help me look for her."

"Good idea," replied Cole. He cast a worried look at Zane, who was now beginning to hyperventilate. With a sigh, he dug a paper bag from a pocket. Removing the slightly squashed (and probably gross) sandwich he'd made for lunch, he handed it to the ex-nindroid. "Here, breathe into this. It'll help."

Zane took it with a pathetically grateful smile and did as suggested. Nya sat with him, rubbing his back gently as Cole and Kai went to search for Pixal. They figured, if Zane could be turned human, there was a chance she had somehow gotten separated from him and was still around to find. After a couple minutes of awkward milling, Lloyd and Jay went to help search.

* * *

"Everything I have read in medical journals suggests that Jay's symptoms are indicative of acute appendicitis," said Zane.

"A cute what now?" asked Jay.

"Appendicitis," repeated Zane, completely missing Jay's attempt at a joke.

"Appendicitis," said Jay. His voice grew as shrill as it did sarcastic as he continued. "Appendicitis. Appendicitis! I can see my grave now! 'Here lies Jay. He survived giant snakes, evil overlords, more snakes and even some ghosts, only to be finally brought down by freakin' appendicitis!" He groaned as he let himself fall back into his pillow.

Cole rolled his eyes at Jay's theatrics. "Feel better, now?"

"No," whimpered Jay.

* * *

Someone was gently shaking his shoulder. His eyes fluttered open as he slowly came awake, and peered up at the figure standing above him. He blinked.

"Cole? What do you want?"

"I'll tell you in a minute. Just follow me, okay?"

Zane didn't question it. He had no idea what the black ninja wanted with him, but it seemed urgent. Climbing out of bed, he followed Cole as he led him to the storage room. Once they were alone, an awkward silence fell as Zane waited for Cole to explain what was going on. Cole, meanwhile, fiddled with his hands as he worked up the courage to continue. After a moment, he let out a little huff.

"Well, I guess I'll just come right out and say it: I want to do you."

Zane blinked. "I … don't know what that means."

Cole whispered something in his ear. Zane was taken aback.

"What? Why?"

Cole smiled sheepishly as he scratched at the back of his head. "Well, I'm sure you noticed that time we were at my dad's that he's gay … I guess it runs in the family. Plus, you're pretty hot."

Zane seemed to be taking Cole's confession fairly well, if hardly reacting to it at all could be considered a good thing. "I do not understand. If anything, Kai would be hot. I am most likely quite cool."

Cole laughed. "No, Zane. It means you're attractive."

"Oh."

Cole couldn't help grinning when he noticed that Zane was blushing.


	3. Original SoT Prologue

I guess I'll share this. This is the original prologue for Ship of Theseus. If you haven't read that yet, this is gonna get spoilery. Anywho, it's not terrible, but I suppose you can all see exactly why I dumped it. This was written before I changed the plot with Gene's plan. Originally, he was supposed to have gotten a job with a game company, and hid the virus code in all copies of the game. To be honest, the rewrite of the prologue that ended up in the story also came before that change; it just turned out that writing Kai being shifty about where he got the game worked to my advantage when I thought up the new direction. The original reason for that was simply because I was too lazy to make up a store name. The initial plan left too many things to chance (how did Gene know the ninja were even going to buy that game, for one), so I was really happy when I came up with the direction I ended up going in. But pretty much, I felt this gave the game away far too readily, so to speak. (Though you may notice I recycled Jay's laying upside down with his legs up the wall pose in the main story. I just loved that mental image. I'm gonna hafta remember to try to draw it at some point.)

Start Scene

The sun was barely up, but the ninja had already been awake for almost two hours now. Even still, they were fairly far back in the line. It snaked around the corner behind them. The hottest new video game in Ninjago was being released today, and they didn't want to miss it. Well, at least some of them didn't want to miss it.

Nya yawned. "Remind me again why I had to be here, too?"

"Because it's a team building exercise?" Cole phrased it as a question, not really believing it himself. Jay had asked him to say it. He shrugged at the blue ninja. Jay swatted him in the arm for blowing it, and then turned to Nya, grinning in an attempt to save the situation.

"Heh . . . What Cole means is that, since we're all going to be playing this game, we should all share in the suffering of standing in line for it!" he exclaimed.

"Ugh, really? Last Legend 18? The last halfway decent game in that series was 12," Nya replied. She turned and started to walk away. "I'm going back to the Bounty. I'll see you when you get back. Tomorrow."

"Nya," Jay whined, but it was too late. She was already rounding a corner, disappearing down the street. Cole slapped him on the back.

"Oh well, guess it's just going to be the five of us," he said with a grin, wrapping an arm around Jay's shoulders. Jay pushed him off, scowling.

"Honestly," Zane spoke up. "I do not understand why all six of us had to come in the first place. Surely it doesn't take six ninja to purchase a video game."

"Not you too, Zane!" groaned Jay theatrically. Zane just blinked, not really understanding why Jay was being so over dramatic.

"I think what Jay's trying to say," said Lloyd, smirking, "is that he doesn't want to wait in line alone."

Jay deflated at the others laughed. Zane pat him on the shoulder in an attempt to cheer him back up.

"Hey, the line's moving, guys!" called Kai, already standing several feet away as the others held up the line. With a quick apology, they all began to shuffle forwards.

X X X

It was late afternoon before the five boys made it back to the Destiny's Bounty, treasure in hand.

"I can't believe we managed to get there while they still had the free giveaway bonus character cards left!" Jay said excitedly.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's fire this puppy up!" said Kai.

The group quickly made their way to the gaming room and set up the system. Soon, a familiar theme song began to play as they determined which four would go first. Zane decided to let the others have the honours, content to just watch for now.

"You're not really going to watch everyone else play a video game, are you?" asked PIXAL.

Zane turned his attention inward. "Yes? I don't really understand why that's an issue," he replied internally.

"I don't know. I don't find it interesting, not being the one in control."

"It does not bother me. It's all right if you don't wish to pay attention."

"I will be running some diagnostics, then. Enjoy your game." With that, she popped off his internal display. Zane turned his attention back to the others. They had finally finished with the initial set up, and the game's opening movie was beginning to play.

X X X

It was late. Really late. This was why Wu was really mad.

"What are you five still doing up?" he demanded, breaking in on the video game party. Jay snorted awake. Somehow, he had managed to fall asleep on the floor with his legs propped up against the wall. He was the only one sleeping, though. The others were in the middle of a pitched battle with a sub boss.

"Can this wait a moment, sensei?" asked Kai, not really paying Wu any attention.

"No, this cannot wait a moment," Wu shot back. He marched over and unplugged the game system. Cole let out a startled little shriek.

"We haven't saved!" he cried.

The four put down their controllers amidst grumbled protests and stood. Jay joined them, yawning. Wu stood before the five boys, arms crossed.

"Have you forgotten your training routine? Now you'll only get two hours of sleep before it is time to get up once more. I hope the game was worth it. Now, goodnight." He pointed to the door meaningfully.

The five boys shuffled out of the room, heads hung in shame. Someone sneezed. It took a moment for everyone to register where it had come from. Once it did, everyone turned to regard Zane with confusion. He shrugged.

"Must have some dust in my system," he said. The explanation seemed plausible, and was quickly accepted. Then the ninja went to bed before Wu could start to frog march them.


End file.
